Who do you think has the most power in the world today?
Is it the politicians? Intelligence agencies? Tech billionaires or the big banks? People have all kinds of thoughts and conspiracies about.
Tech billionaires and it isn’t even close
deepseek now I guess 🤣
to be honest its defiantly a trinity or so
money-power-control
Billions-politicians-invention
(disclaimer: not a conspiracy, lots of great books and public resources cover those)
Historically, it has to be the CIA, especially during the Cold War.
- Its early leaders had ties to former Nazis,
- got involved in drug trafficking and arms trafficking to finance operations as their financing from the US budget is slim
- operates outside Washington's control, i.e., no control or oversight over them; many operations are even kept secret from the President
- helped bring figures like Eisenhower and Nixon to power
- the agency has its roots on Ivy League graduates, billionaires, and the Georgetown elite.
- got involved in the European elections after WWII
- relied (or may still do) on offshore companies to carry some illegal operations
- in the past, they had a free pass into the President’s circle through groups like the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board which skips the traditional bureaucracy of Washington
- gets involved with the mafia for common goals, with terrorist groups, with politicians, rebels, etc.
- many personnel extremely qualified in arms/psychology/manipulation/intelligence gathering, etc.
Tech is just childs play on their side. The privacy/information/propaganda those platforms gather and spread remains at the mercy of the regulators and local authorities in different countries. They don't provide any essential raw material or essential services, so they can disappear in a matter of days (see TikTok). Also, the people who work in those companies are just computer nerds, not people you would be somehow scared of because they have access to your information.
True, I've read a lot about the CIA and there's a great channel on YouTube called eyes wide open that does detailed documentaries on their history. While I agree with you, the CIA always had strong ties to private interests. What was the purpose of all the 20th century coups they were responsible for? US hegemony is part of it, but it also helps further american business interests in those countries. United Fruit in Guatemala, the Casino business in Cuba, Oil companies in Iran. You can argue that they act more like enforcers, protecting the current world order.
If you say that financial institutions have the most power it would be more believable. Zuckerberg is worth more and has more control over his own company than say Jamie Dimon and Larry Fink, but the amount of money they're entrusted to by their investors, having closer ties to governments, mean they have more influence on the flow of money in general
DJT
I think being realistic it has to be POTUS as the single most powerful person/institution. Aside from political pressure, there is basically no limit to what he can and cannot do.
Fair to say US industry probably is on a par but only as a collective. So Wall St + Silicon Valley.
Probably the only individual who can rival POTUS is Elon, purely because he’s willing and able to fund opposition candidates against anyone he doesn’t like.
But yeah otherwise I don’t really see how anyone could be more powerful.
Actual applicable Power: Most likely the FSB in Russia. No shortage of chemical and biological agents to eliminate their opponents. Hampered by the fact that they're hardly a united organization. You could say the CIA but the CIA is still beholden to the US establishment, the FSB is not, and can get rid of Putin if circumstances require it, though it would be highly dangerous to do so.
Financial Power: High concentration in the Gulf SWFs and their consequent controlling ruling families. The Gulf dynasties have more liquid and easily deployed cash flow than anybody else. This isn't changing as their competitors like Russia, Iran, Malysia, don't have the same extraction costs for crude (Aramco, ADNOC) or LNG (Qatar).
Institutional Power: The CCP. The world has never seen an organization like it before. Millions of members, deeply intertwined with the future economic hegemon of the world, if things play out as they're planning.
Manufacturing Power: Supply chains and an entire industrial ecosystem, gives this to China.
Tech. Industrial. Complex.
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